


Fast

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: everyone dies, i typed this so fast im sorry if its shit, like literally everyone dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-16
Updated: 2014-02-16
Packaged: 2018-01-12 14:38:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1188870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There where days upon days, months upon months, years upon years during which Eren had somehow fooled himself into thinking that they were all going to make it. He would look to his side and find everyone still alive, still running with him, still fighting, and he could easily believe that because they had lived this long they were invincible, and the air in his lungs was as guaranteed as the blood in his veins.</p><p>It was only when the first titan burst out of the woods and crushed Armin and his horse beneath one cart-sized foot that he realized how very, very wrong he was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fast

There where days upon days, months upon months, years upon years during which Eren had somehow fooled himself into thinking that they were all going to make it. He would look to his side and find everyone still alive, still running with him, still _fighting_ , and he could easily believe that because they had lived this long they were invincible, and the air in his lungs was as guaranteed as the blood in his veins.

 

It was only when the first titan burst out of the woods and crushed Armin and his horse beneath one cart-sized foot that he realized how very, very wrong he was.

 

It happens so fast.  
  
That's what he can't get over- how fast and how bloody a death can be. He saw the golden whip-tangle of Armin's head disappear under the giant toes and he didn't even have enough time to really clue in to what was going on, to call out, to call it _away_ before the deed is done and his best friend of so many years is just  
  
 _gone._

 

Jean was screaming the loudest, yanking at the reins to bring his horse around, and that was when Eren really registered what was going on and that was when his mouth tasted bitter and that was when he found his mouth full of sick because holy shit that was Armin-

 

Armin-

 

Armin was the smear of red and cloth over the grass and he couldn't even pick out where the horse ended and his best friend's corpse began it was just all _scarlet_. Vivid, angry, final scarlet.

 

The scene whipped by him, and when he looked forward the horizon stretched on, blue and clear and deceitful because somewhere Armin was dead and Mikasa was screaming in a kind of agony that he couldn't believe was human. He was still numb to it, to that kind of loss, and he was starting to wonder what the hell was wrong with him why wasn't he crying when he realized-

 

He realized-

 

Jean was gone too.

 

Everything was red again, but this time his comrade was a burst of gore between a monster's teeth, the same one that had crushed Armin, and Eren just couldn't _believe it_. Two of the most promising soldiers, two of the greatest friends he'd ever known, they were just- holy _shit_ -

 

Mikasa was livid. She was screaming at him, her mouth stretched open in a way that made it look like her face would tear in two, and she was yelling at him to transform Eren please people are dying Armin is _dead_.

 

Armin's not dead. He was just riding behind Eren not two minutes ago.  
  
Jean wasn't dead. He was so skilled with his 3D manoeuvre gear, there was no way he could be snatched and gobbled up by a beast with flat teeth. They weren't fast enough for him. They weren't smart enough to catch Armin.

 

Smoke signals flared up into the sky, signalling the arrival of an abnormal titan. Eren could see the colours painted and fading against that blue, blue atmosphere, and he wanted to turn around to tell Armin to keep a sharp eye because someone had seen a titan, a titan was here, it was-  
  
Hey.  
  
 _Hey_.

 

He pulled so hard on his horse's reins that for a moment he was afraid they'd both topple over, but the massive animal held steady and screamed in protest, _everyone_ was screaming.

 

There went Connie, picked off by a titan that skittered on its hands and knees, mouth agape and swallowing the boy whole in a flash. Sasha followed, slipping into an accent that Eren could only think was interesting before it was abruptly cut off forever, and there was more red but he was turning around, and this time the sky didn't lie to him and promise a future.

 

Mikasa was still screaming at him to transform, but he wasn't _supposed_ to, Petra would be so disappointed-  
  
Where was he?

 

_-he had to jump into that titan's mouth and pull Armin out he had to save him they were going to see the ocean he'd promised-_

 

No, no.

 

_-Petra was bent against a tree and blood streamed from her nose Annie was here had to find Annie had to kill destroy consume-_

 

Hey. _Hey._

 

He saw green beneath his horse and he saw red. He saw trees standing in a silent audience as chaos erupted between them, looming like the iron bars of cages, he was in the basement, he was locked away, they hadn't left yet-

 

“ _Eren would you listen to me-_ ”

 

“No, no, _nononono-_ ”

 

“Don't! Not today, please, not _today_ -”

 

He took in a deep breath, and that was when everything was clear. Black spots bloomed in his vision, but he could still see enough to know that Armin was dead, Armin was that twisted shape stomped into the earth, Jean was dripping over the fast titan's chin, Connie didn't have a trace left of him, Sasha's boot was laying out of place on the ground, and Mikasa was so angry, Mikasa was all he had left.

 

Eren blinked, looking toward her. His vision blurred, went red, and then he was the angry one, but when he bit semi-circles into his hand it wouldn't happen he was trapped in this weak body he was letting everyone down and it _hurt_.

 

“I can't!” he cried, and he was crying, sobbing with frustration and grief because oh god _Armin,_

 

“You have to!” Mikasa screeched back at him, drawing her blades and he didn't think he'd ever seen her this upset before, had she cried like this when she'd thought he was dead? “You have to, Eren, call them away! Do _something_!”

 

He repeated it, that mantra of ' _I can't, I can't, I can't_ ', and Levi soared by him in a spinning hurricane of fury, those usually narrowed eyes wide in fury and disgust as he cut through steaming flesh. Levi would save them, Levi would-

 

Levi was screaming, Levi's leg was bent at an awkward angle, and Levi's last words were muffled in the sharp twist in a titan's fist as humanity's greatest soldier died. There was no dignity in it, it was so messy, and no one knew what he'd said-  
  
What had Armin's last words been?  
  
Eren couldn't remember.  
  
Mikasa was off her horse, one of the few left standing, and Eren had to wonder how he was still alive. He wasn't moving. He was easy prey.  
  
He bit at his hands until they were slicked with blood, but the power was unreachable, and this was every nightmare he'd woken screaming from, but he was already _awake_.

 

Mikasa was already dead.

 

He didn't know how it had happened. He hadn't seen it. He'd been too busy biting at his hands, watching them smoke, feeling his eyes burn with the tears that were now strangling him, drowning him on dry land.  
  
How lovely it would have been to swim in cool, free water.

 

Mikasa's scarf fluttered from between a titan's teeth like a bizarre tongue, licking out in the wind in a flag of defeat. Eren was almost jealous of her- she could ask Armin if Heaven had an ocean.

 

God.  
  
There was no God here.  
  
A shadow fell over him as he watched the carnage take hold beneath that clear, clear sky. He didn't have to look to know that it was a titan advancing on him, reaching to snatch him off his horse and come on, where was that determination, where was the will to fight and the will to live?  
  
Somewhere with his sister and his best friend, probably.

 

He closed his eyes, and for a long, long time, he saw nothing.

**Author's Note:**

> i just felt like writing something- think of it as a warm up of sorts


End file.
